There are three branches of government. One is called Congress. There are 435 members of Congress who…

Can’t do economics. Can’t do political science.

The crush is over. Time to break up.

Breaking up is hard to do.

Welcome to reality.

Make up your own. This post by Paul Krugman (HT: Will Wilkinson[2]) totally bewilders me:

Health care reform — which is crucial for millions of Americans — hangs in the balance. Progressives are desperately in need of leadership; more specifically, House Democrats need to be told to pass the Senate bill, which isn’t what they wanted but is vastly better than nothing. And what we get from the great progressive hope[3], the man who was offering hope and change, is this:

I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce around those elements of the package that people agree on. We know that we need insurance reform, that the health insurance companies are taking advantage of people. We know that we have to have some form of cost containment because if we don’t, then our budgets are going to blow up and we know that small businesses are going to need help so that they can provide health insurance to their families. Those are the core, some of the core elements of, to this bill. Now I think there’s some things in there that people don’t like and legitimately don’t like.

In short, “Run away, run away”!

Maybe House Democrats can pull this out, even with a gaping hole in White House leadership. Barney Frank seems to have thought better[4] of his initial defeatism. But I have to say, I’m pretty close to giving up on Mr. Obama, who seems determined to confirm every doubt I and others ever had about whether he was ready to fight for what his supporters believed in.

In America we have what’s called a republic. It’s a particular form of democracy that involves separation of powers, a Constitution, elected officials and so on. There’s a gaggle of institutional detail that determines what gets done and what doesn’t get done. It has something to do with the will of the people but it’s more complicated than that, because we often disagree, so there’s no single will. But at any event, it’s not rule by the elite, or some kind of fiefdom.

Krugman called his post “He wasn’t the one we were waiting for.” What does that mean? You tell me. I’m afraid to even speculate.